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GMC Update
= Introduction = Sources and Inspiration (A list of stories that can inspire a Dream Catchers game. Things here should be specifically Dream Catchers and not generic Hunter or Changeling) London Falling by Paul Cornell When four police officers find themselves with the ability to see the magical world hiding beneath the ordinary, what follows is perhaps the quintessential Dream Catchers story. The heroes must use experimentation, guess work and investigation to understand magic; and they must use both their new powers and their old policing skills to overcome a serial killer who would fit in perfectly among the World of Darkness' faeries. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness Just after midnight a Monster comes to visit young Connor, he will tell Conner three stories and in return Conner will tell him the truth. In Dream Catchers the fae are not always the enemies. They are wild chaotic creatures, and chaos brings the possibility for both alliances and conflict. The monster's help, though direly needed, is powerful and dangerous, often hurting Conner and those around him with the best of intentions. A fitting example of how a faerie might act. =Chapter One= I Want To Believe Aliens. Abductions. Strange bodily forms. Things not of this world. Still think you know all the fairy tales? Alien abductions in the modern era are generally attributed to Betty and Barney Hill in 1961, and the Antonio Vilas Boas incident in 1957. Both cases have remarkable similarities. Both involved strange aircraft making impossible movements in utter silence. Both involved isolated individuals at night, and vehicles going dead. Their abductors wore strange uniforms, and seemed obsessed with human reproduction; Boas was “convinced” to mate with one of the alien females, while the creatures in the Hill incident tested Betty for pregnancy and took a sperm sample from Barney. Both cases had the abductees being shown strange languages, and being told they could not take any evidence of their encounters out with them back into the world. While the general public felt that both experiences were just fantasy, the Hills and Boas adamantly argued their experiences were real. Both said their experiences left behind some kind of physical evidence, psychological trauma, missing time, or illnesses. Which many hunters also report when dealing with the fae. Abduction myths stretch back millennia. There are stories of demons stealing humans that interested them to strange places only to return them later with little memories of what happened. The fae reportedly could alter the time and space around them, months or years would pass as a human watched for mere minutes. Humans interacting with faeries often had their memories wiped, only to suffer from nightmares days after that showed them what happened. Succubi and incubi assaulted sleeping humans to mate, only to vanish like a dream as soon as their task was finished. Are alien abductors just the latest mask worn by the fae? Despite naturalistic images of dryads, nymphs, and flower faeries, stories of tinker gnomes and dwarven smiths show that fae are more than capable of making and using machines. Their powers allow the impossible after all, so why not make a craft capable of stopping on a dime at Mach 3, then zipping through the skies like a bouncing rubber ball? And why the obsession with human reproduction? The typical Ufologist theory is that alien beings are curious about human genes and reproduction from a purely scientific standpoint, as we study other species on how they breed for clues on why they behave the way they do. The fae are different. The fae, according to myth, are timeless beings. They are incapable of truly changing or creating something new. Imagine then, how fascinating human creativity must be to the fae, and is new life not the greatest expression of man's power to create? An elfin queen steels abducts musicians to play at her soirées, an alien scientist studies human reproduction to crack the mystery of creativity. They play different roles but the play is timeless and unchanging. These modern stories themselves can take on lives of their own. The fetches the fae create to replace humans, are they really fetches? Or are these the pod people come to slowly convert the human race to their inscrutable thoughts and logic? Are the changelings really escapees from a nightmare world, or did they just return from a long jaunt in an alien’s ship as part of a long and painful bio-experiment? Who came first, the fae, the aliens, or the stories about aliens? Is there even a difference at all? Perhaps the fae are taking cues from something that truly isn’t of this Earth. Who says mankind is the only species the fae visit? Maybe faeries have actually seen creatures from outside of our own solar system, and are using these creatures as a disguise to do these things to us, to play their twisted games and tricks on us. Who says the fae need a reason at all? If they exist, what would the real aliens think about their impersonators? Perhaps the fae themselves have made powerful enemies? Maybe an intrepid hunter could find this out. If they aren’t abducted first. Story Hooks Recticula: Your contact with the local news calls you saying you need to get to his office ASAP. A man’s just taken the building across the street hostage, saying he wants the aliens to leave him alone and give his little sister back. The contact says she was taken from a nearby campground, and that the same campground was the site of a grisly ritual murder a few years ago; the victims each had their livers removed. It clicks in your head that a race of possible ETs loves to harvest the liver, but to what end? And why take this man’s sister whole? At the Lord’s Table: Now you’ve heard everything. An eighty-something woman with coke-bottle glasses and a power chair just said that she’s been having morning sickness, and that in a dream she sat at the Lord’s table and saw beings of dazzling brilliance. Yep, she’s pregnant with the second coming. Not long later she miscarried. What’s worse, the fetus is nowhere near human, but looks like some hybrid creature. The second coming’s gonna have to wait until you figure out what happened, and while you're doing that, a martyred "angelic hybrid" foetus can do a lot for a fledging religion. Pieces of the Puzzle: You've always known this town has a problem. There are strange lights in the sky, reports of missing time, people have been developing sudden addictive behaviour. All the signs point to aliens and you sure could use some help stopping them. Unfortunately the only other Hunters in town are new age hippies, too busy nailing iron to doorpost, trying to warn people about faeries, and imagining they might achieve some sort of cosmic awareness to conduct a proper scientific investigation. Both groups believe the others are blind fools, but if they ever realised they have different pieces of the same puzzle then they might just have a chance of protecting the town. =Organisations = Tier Two Brainstorming (The Kings Raven): (this does not cover our new organisations) I think the text needs to go into a bit more about what they don't know. Play up an air of mystery, things not going according to plan. Also, Fetches should be mostly unknown. The fiction should also have a bit more of things not going according to plan. fAshwood Abbey Brainstorming (The Kings Raven) - the Abbey is pretty good. I tried to tidy text a bit but I didn't make any significant changes - just additions. For the story I saw a great way for a hunter to win without things going according to plan so I dived right in. “Why did I come to this party?” Gideon asked himself for the third time that night. He knew the answer. Once he had been an up and coming musician with empty pockets who happily accepted a large cheque to play for a private party. The Abbey liked him enough to keep him around, and if he stopped coming around they'd assume he'd turned into a snitch. Snitches get a lot worse than stitches. Today was even worse than usual. Normally he could join the musicians and hide backstage when he wasn't performing. Today someone had actually hired a band of elves, no one was going to interrupt them, which left Gideon hiding in a corner from the women who liked to grope and dance with him while telling disgusting stories of their hunts. Not for the first time Gideon wondered if he could just run. Wonder the Earth and live of his music, but then Gideon was just as scared of being homeless as he was of the Abbey. With a sigh he looked at the band, if he was that good then he'd have nothing to worry about. “I'd kill to play like that.” Later that evening a waiter came and presented Gideon a covered tray “Compliments of the gentleman on stage.” Inside was a photograph of Lady Spencer and a knife. For the first time that evening Gideon smiled. The Abbey is nothing but respectful of traditions, and faerie tales as proud a tradition as any. Even as an individual guest a faerie can be the exotic star of any party. What can top kissing living fire or sleeping with a man who's half horse where it matters most? As the gatekeepers to a proud tradition though, that's where the fae really shine. A good many Abbey members often lead a “wild hunt” through their regions, riding through an area in sports cars and SUVs, or horseback with swords and bows, but if you could find the right faerie and afford her price. Wouldn't it just be grand to go on a real Wild Hunt, to tear across the sky on flying horses with howling wolves at your side and your terrified prey beneath? Other clubs like to host “Cinderella Balls”. You find a lot of women, the more desperate the better, and hire faeries to paint them with youth and beauty for one night. Whomever gets the ball's prince can keep both her gifts (and the Prince gets to keep the girl, at least until they break up). “Cinderfella Balls” aren't quite as popular with the Abbey's ladies but they happen too. Faerie tales have a special place in the Abbey's rotten hearts, for even the Abbey's hunters were once children being read books that begin with "Once upon a time". Now as rich adults the Abbey know that they can escape their ennui and recapture that childhood wonder if they can find the right faerie and pay it's price. This love is unrequited. Faeries, especially those who live on Earth, often feel utter revulsion for the board solipsism that underlies the Abbey's lifestyle. The Abbey, par for the course, doesn't care one bit about what the plebeians say about them, their only concern is how this makes it harder to invite the fun party guests. At least, without applying just the right amount of violence or blackmail. Faeries don't break their contracts, and one doesn't get rich enough to join the Abbey without a legal team. The risks of an inadvertent loophole or a faerie witch cursing entire cells just make it interesting. Story Seeds A faerie your cell usually gathers with has recently been hanging around with other sorts of creatures, from vampires to witches. While the parties have certainly been more entertaining, you slowly noticed that you never saw your “friend” with any of his own kind. He says it’s just because he wants to protect you, but you smell skeletons in his closet. Who, or what, is he hiding? The outing last week was amazing, the transition between drug-fueled soiree to bloodthirsty hunt flawless, and you cut down the freaks one by one through the mansion, as your vision shifted from room to room, from Victorian estate to primeval forest and back again. Then you noticed Harold acting differently the next week, shocked when you used the silver broadsword on the werewolf’s manhood. Harold was never a squeamish one, especially when it came to werewolves, and that probably means something changed Harold that night. What tampered with Harold’s head? Or worse, did Harold make a deal himself? The Long Night Brainstorming (The Kings Raven): I think the Long Night could do with a bit of a rework. The impression I get is a bit... generic. Some try to kill monsters, others try to save them. The way faeries will swear a Pledge to renounce Satan without hesitation would probably be a good excuse to play up the schism heavy nature of Protestantism with lots of different theories. Talking about how they investigate faeries is also important, I imagine they'd use similar community focused methods to The Union. For the story; I quite like the idea of an inexperienced cell lost in the Hedge (they were Hunting in a forest and it turned into the Hedge around them). The story ends with their priest saying that this is hopeless, telling everyone to blindfold themselves, hold onto each other, and trust god to get them out. "Reverend! Look!" shouted James, in the gap between two trees vicious thorny briars were growing before his eyes. "There too!" shouted Destiny, "It's all around us". Shots rang out. "Kayla, what was that?" said Reverend Demond. "I saw something" Whatever the something was, gunfire didn't scare it off. A creature like a mountain lion with antlers emerged from the briars as though the vicious wood was transforming into living flesh. It grinned, then it's grin spread down it's body until it had opened a mouth half as long as it was. With a flash of needle sharp teeth it pounced at Demond. "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death!" With a shout Demond caught the pouncing creature by the jaws and threw it against a tree. While the reverend lay panting three volleys of gunfire pinned the creature in place, then it died. No blood came from it's wounds, instead ripples of beautiful plants grew out from it's injuries. Bright greens, reds and yellows lit up the bright forest. More than anything else this frightened the cell. '' ''"We're not ready for this" said Destiny, it was true. Despite carrying guns the cell were closer to exorcists than monster hunters. '' ''"Everyone, back the way we came!" agreed the Reverend before Kayla could insist they kept looking for the missing children. As the leader Desmond has to make the hard choices for the good of the group, and an argument would just make it even harder. '' ''It wasn't long before the group discovered that the paths had shifted and no one had any idea where they were. For a few minuets they wondered lost before Desmond took charge again. "There is only one way we're getting out of this, and that is with the Lord's guidance. Take my hands and close your eyes, all together now. Our Father, Who art in Heaven." The Loyalists of Thule Brainstorming (The Kings Raven): I like the story, I did think about moving it to a planning session where they talk about all the things that can go wrong with a faerie deal but on the whole that's not a big deal. The loyalists are aloud to have something go according to plan. One thing I am concerned about is the bit about the Thule-Gesellschaft; I couldn't find anything that looked authoritative about the Thule-Gesellschaft's views on faeries with Google so I took it out and used the space to talk more about what they don't know. Though I'll put it back in without hesitation if that's what they actually believed. Flyboy would you know? The Loyalists know more than the average hunter when it comes to the various types of fairies. Their archives contain rare texts: Roman treatises on Celtic and Germanic mythology, studies of folklore, even the unpublished journals and stories of the Brothers Grim. From these documents the Loyalists have learned the basics about what the fae are, where they come from, and how their strange magic works. What they have learnt both tempts and frightens the Indebted. They know that every faerie from the littlest house-spirit to the burliest troll has weaknesses that can be exploited to bribe, bully or ultimately destroy the monster, but they know these weaknesses are unpredictable and defy categorisation. They know that faeries love to make deals and almost never break the letter of their word, but they know even the dumbest ogre is a crafty and devious lawyer. As it has elsewhere, caution has become the Loyalist's watchword. For every cell of neo-nazis cursed by a faerie in the Loyalist's employ, there are ten where the Loyalists decided mundane methods are safer. For every Indebted hunter who brought some magic from the fae there are five who were inducted into the loyalists to repay the debts of a botched trade. When the faeries are coming out of their secret hideaways and causing trouble the loyalists can be among the first to know. When a mysterious death bears an uncanny resemblance to an old wives tale that only local historians know or care about, it's the Loyalists who have heard of those tales or are best placed to research them. When there are no clues at all, the Loyalists are among the best at bribing or blackmailing monsters to get their unique point of view. Getting good information is a challange even for the Loyalists, but they perserveer. Debts such as theirs were not meant to be paid of easily, and so every faerie must be researched individually to uncover it's abilities, weaknesses and most importantly: if it's innocent or guilty. Most hunters would call bribing monsters collaboration, but when they uncover the faerie's banes other Hunters tend to shut up and listen. Those who wont often get themselves killed. Iron alone is only good if you can get a clear shot. Network Zero Brainstorming (The Kings Raven): On the whole a very solid write up, but there is room for expansion in the last paragraph. One of Net0's weaknesses is that they aren't that good at scepticism to sort real supernatural from the false stuff. Making it clear that they've got lots of theories, some of which are total lies that faerie came up with then found a Net0 interviewer to spread to the world would help; maybe also moving that section to earlier in the text so it feels more important. The story I think needs a rework. It seems odd that a faerie would give an interview, only to smash the tapes and be defeated by something as simple as a backup. I'd like to include aliens in the Net0 story. Maybe they could be filming some UFO hunter documentary, follow changelings into the hedge (where they can see their true form) but get really confused when the "greys" arrive at a faerie party. It ends with them congratulating each other for the video of a lifetime then asking "which way is out?" "Well the cheerleader's story was heartbreaking" said Wallace looking straight into the camera from a suitably creepy position "I can't tell if it's implanted memories or something in the water but there is a lot of unexplained events, and all the evidence leads here. To Cisco Grove." "I'm going to pull out the Kirlian camera and look around" said Tom, "a Kirlian camera is primarily used by scientists for studying psychic energy but I'm going to look for anomolies that might suggest the presence of alien te.... Tom stopped when he noticed Jimmy making furious hide gestures. Three women walked into the clearing, quickly looked around, then after knocking on a hollow tree trunk vanished down a brightly lit path that most definitely did not exist moments ago. The film crew shared looks of shock before their minds caught up, they ran in pursuit. The crews of Network Zero believe, that much everyone can tell. They always come out with their cameras of all sizes, their little audio recorders and their EMF detectors, always searching for the truth, no matter what the truth looks like. They look for changes in the temperature, and say it’s a haunting. They see shapes in the distance and call it a spirit. They'll hear someone talking about missing days and shout UFO. But when the monster walks right up to them and claims it is what it really is, that’s when NetZo’s get all hot and bothered. Why faeries, you may ask? To the Secret Frequency, the answer is simple; if a faerie willingly bares themselves for the camera it’s the shot of a lifetime. A vampire on film is just a blur, and a witch captured on video looks just like your or me. But a creature that has horns and vines and who knows what else growing from their very skin? Now that’s something the world can’t ignore, especially when you shove it in their faces and force them to see the truth. And when one domino falls, the rest will follow suit. The issue is the insular nature of fae society. Nearly every faerie living on Earth seems to be some kind of refugee hiding out in the world of humanity, sometimes they genuinely want nothing more than to tell someone their story, but the very fact that a NetZo can even find a faerie, let alone get an interview, means something in the faerie structure of life has probably gone wrong. If that something isn't a danger to investigating Hunters, the faeries attempting to fix the situation usually are. Memories can be modified, hunters who have seen the fae's true form can be magically bound to a promise of silence, sometimes people just vanish. Even a willing guest star can be dangerous if wrong question triggers a traumatic flashback. As for members of the Secret Frequency themselves, they mostly approach the fae like any other hunt. They take the best precautions that they can to protect themselves, and not much else. In many ways hunting faeries with a camera is safer than a gun, the fae are a little more likely to take your memories or your oath, and a little less likely to take your life. The Secret Frequency's willingness to believe is perhaps their greatest weakness against the fair folk. Quite a few faeries have realised that the best way to spread lies and misinformation to hunters is to offer an interview to their closest NetZo. Irish myth, nature spirits, aliens, human cultists, demons, gods, if it's associated with abducting humans or making bargains there's probably a faerie, without her Mask, promoting it as The Truth on Youtube. The Secret Frequency lap it up. Null Mysteriis Brainstorming (The Kings Raven): I think what this section needs is a bit more theories and dispute. Currently we have the Open Minds and Rationalists, but there's room for dozens of competing theories about faerie biology and faerie magic. If we were to remove the bit about Fetches (who should be mostly unknown to Compacts) and the solid discoveries of iron and kirlin cameras that should free up lots of space to talk about competing theories. The idea of seeking a cure should definitely stay, but perhaps with some problems in that it only tries to treat the physical and not the magical effects. I'm tempted to make the Cottingley Fairies real, and the girl's memories of having faked it being magically implanted by Changelings. The Organization for the Rational Assessment of the Supernatural loves a good challenge, it’s part of the mandate the compact has, as it were. No one wants to leave a stone unturned or question unchallenged. “Faeries” are perhaps the best challenge ORAS has come across. The first encounter betweeen Null Mysteriis and faeries was in Cottingley, 1920. Though their numbers were drained by the Great War, a small cell made their way to the village to examine the case of Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, two young cousins who had published photographs of themselves with faeries. Half the cell went to interview the girls, and soon unanimously agreed that they had faked the photographs. The remainder of the cell investigated Cottingley Beck, though they found no evidence of faeries one botanist, George Milestone, deduced that several plants had grown "as though this summer had lasted all of their lives". Milestone (who would be an Open Mind but for the fact his career pre-dated the term) concluded that faeries had worked their magic to erase all evidence of their existence, even the memories of young Elsie and Frances. The case was officially recorded as an unsolved mystery which, thanks to George's prompting, sired several more expeditions and experiments to discover the fae. George himself lived to see proof of the fair folk and eventually vanished on an ill-fated expedition through a looking glass. Three questions surround the fae. The first is the question of faerie biology, the second is how faerie magic works, the third is if the first two questions are actually the same question. Complicating matters is that Null Mysteriis have not uncovered any reliable way to see through a faeries illusion of normality, much of what the Null Mysteriis has learned comes from faeries who claim to have been former human and are looking for a scientific cure to their condition, or at least cosmetic surgery to appear more human. By necessity these faeries grant The Sight to their benefactors. However none of those questions excite the Null Mysteries more than one simple fact they have uncovered, faerie magic is unrelated to witchcraft. It may not sound so exciting but consider it further, there is a near infinite verity of witches and as far as O.R.A.S can tell none of them have combined faerie magic with any other method. Even those rare polymaths who've mastered several styles cannot create a simple spell that uses both faerie and other techniques. Some witches, including several that O.R.A.S considers competent and talented have gone so far as to say that according to their lore, faerie magic shouldn't even be possible. There are many theories at one extreme there are hard-line Rationalists still looking to find the connection between fae and terrestrial magic. In the middle, yes the middle, you'll find people hypothesizing that the fae come from a different reality and operate according to different natural laws. If you have a grand romantic theory for what those laws might be you're probably Open Minded. If you think the faerie universe is gradually replacing our universe you're an Open Minded Cataclysmic. Perhaps the majority of O.R.A.S. investigating the Fae aren't even interested in the supernatural. If the hypothesis is true there's a whole other universe, physicists come from around the world to see what they might learn about our regular physics if they have a second universe to compare and test. There has been a couple of noble prizes as a result. The Union Brainstorming (The Kings Raven): It's all good until it starts getting to fetches. Instead it could say that the Union's community links mean they often notice that when faeries are around some people are Changed. The Union know faeries often go with drugs and other stuff, and they don't like it when drugs or magic leads people astray. But sometimes people change for the better. What do they think of that? The Union treats faeries like all the other monsters it faces; don’t cause trouble, and we won’t kill you. You would think the fae are a little more immune to such troubles, since their primary goal is to avoid attention. And it’s true, for the most part, a lot of fae could live their lives in a Union town without a problem. Some even seek them out for the safety and stability fostered by a successful Union cell. But the Union looks out for it’s communities. When kids go missing, Union leaders are some of the first to organize searches. When crime goes up, so does the call for police action from Union cells. If the local kids start acting funny the Joes and Janes are the first to notice, if a strange new drug (or an inexplicable supply of regular drugs) hits the streets or a missing kid found in the woods is subtly but undeniably different. That's what The Union will call making trouble, and the fae are on the forum's list of freaks who might be responsible. Only, sometimes the change is for the better. Sometimes the change is that little Johnny stops hitting girls during playtime, or Fred comes into work without alcohol on his breath for the first time in months. Even though no one can explain why so many locals have won money, they can see how it helps the local economy. If the faeries are keeping to themselves and supporting their community wouldn't that make them... good neighbours? The Union tend to like tidy safe communities where they can raise their families. The fae aren't always safe and they are rarely tidy; so while most of The Union doesn't like the idea of freaks living near their kids, some are willing to at least consider their point of view, even if they admittedly don't know much about it. Sadly when the time comes to break out the shotguns, the Union knows little about faeries and fae lore in general, and often have to make do with what they can find on the forums. There are some subsections on types of creatures that are considered faeries, and the top of the list in bold, italics, underlined and in capitols, it’s, “BRING IRON!” Though few Union hunters put much concrete faith in their forum, the fact that it’s the single thread with the most hits and fewest flames gives credence to the post. If they're lucky a Cell might be able to call on another Compact, a local witch or even a friendly faerie for advice; but even witches and academic compacts find it hard to provide good information on the fae, and the fair folk are particularly troublesome to hunt without information. Sometimes though, a good community lead is enough when occult lore is lacking, and if The Union can corner a fae then iron and grit is usually enough to take it in a fight. Like the group itself, though, the Union doesn’t have one set policy for what they'll do if they manage to catch a fae. Sometimes they'll take it off the streets, beat it with a pipe then send it out on a rail or arrest the freak and haul it before a kangaroo court. Other cells might be more interested in restorative justice, labour unions have lawyers too. The idea of binding a faerie in a contract is usually discouraged on the forums. The fae are very good lawyers and when they twist their way out of a deal, quite often the Hunters end up reporting that faeries can break contracts. If that mistake leads to the Hunters actually breaking their side of the deal, well there's a reason a lot of people will loudly try to discourage making any bargains. Few cells of The Union try, a few more might give it a go if they need to deal with that faerie anyway. =Equipment= Brainstorming (The Kings Raven) - Iron weapons are a must and while we're at it the Sons should get to use their Endowment with guns too. Apart from that, I'm thinking of focusing on supernatural equipment and social equipment. For social equipment, disguises and other dirty tricks, as well as uniforms and other symbols of authority. If the equipment section could even do a little bit of "who can be trusted" that would be really cool. Social Equipment Snacks Durability 0, Size 0 or 1, Structure 1, Availability: •, Dice Modifier :+1 to +5 In a lot of faerie tales, eating someone's food puts you into their debt or their power. In other stories the fae will ask strangers for food, rewarding those who share and punishing those who won't. Hunters investigating the fae often like to travel prepared. Snack bars, being long lasting, light, portable, and good for quick energy if you get hungry, are popular with practical minded hunters. Milk, honey, or salted baguettes are used by hunters who put their faith in the traditional foods of faerie tales or hospitality. Effect: Sharing food can give a general social bonus, often a surprisingly large one if you're sharing with the fae. Other faeries may have frailties or codes of behavior relating to food, these are unpredictable but can be of enormous benefit to the hunter who exploits them. Physical Equipment Door Seals Durability 3, Size 2, Structure 4, Availability: • Experienced faerie Hunters say that if you want to stop a freak from escaping you ambush it in the middle of an empty street. If you corner it in an alleyway it will jump into a trash-can, and it's gone. Burst into it's bedroom and it will roll under it's bed, and it's gone. The fair folk can escape into the hedge through any portal at all, and once they do it's best to accept that they've won this round. Sometimes though, Hunters can't rely on a featureless field to ambush a faerie in. Therefore a prepared hunter will seal off the doors and windows to prevent the fae from using them as a passage into the Hedge. The most common methods involve: Locking a door then filling the keyhole with glue, placing thick metal spikes to hold a door shut or chains and padlocks. Used well Door seals can provide a few vital seconds while a faerie smashes a window or plenty of time as a lithe elf desperately hammers on a solid door. Particularly paranoid hunters might use this to protect their safehouses. If the fae can escape through any portal, can they also invade just as easily? Though really paranoid hunters tend to find or create safehouses with no interior walls in the first place. Effect: Before a fae can use the Dread Power Knock Knock on this particular portal they must first get past the seal and open it. Brute force is always an option, roll against the stats provided above or the stats of the door or window. Whichever one is weakest. Lockpicking is an option against padlocks, and some dread powers might bypass the issue entirely. Weapons Butterfly Net Die Bonus +1, Durability 1, Size 2, Structure 1, Availability •, Minimum Crafts 1 Some faeries actually are thumb sized people, sometimes they even frolic in flowers. This doesn't mean they're not dangerous. When hunters want to capture a little pixie alive they often use butterfly nets made from iron wire, sometimes with an iron frame too. While not available on the open market, the components are cheep and easily assembled. Effect: Roll Dexterity + Weaponry + 1, on a success the faerie is trapped in the net and cannot escape without tearing through iron wire. For most teeny tiny faeries this is impossible (a Strength of essentially zero) though for some who's strength is supernatural, at least in proportion to their size, this is easy. While trapped in the net treat the faerie cannot apply Defense. It may however be able to fight back with magic or verbal trickery. Bows Once the most common ranged weapon in the world, bows have been made obsolete by guns which are faster to fire, easier to learn, and just as deadly. So why do hunters still use bows? Well honestly, not that many hunters use bows (faeries on the other hand). There’s a few who took up archery as a sport before joining the vigil and it’s the weapon they know, a few use bows because they’re the best ranged weaponry that works reliably in the Hedge. Some of the Aegis Kai Doru wield Relic bows and many Hounds were master archers before they first saw a gun. Bows depend upon their wielder to a far greater extent than guns, you can’t really call a bow “one size fits all”, instead a good bow is tailored to the strength of the archer. A bow’s damage is equal to the required strength -1. Typically speaking even when the archer is superhumanly strong the damage rating never goes above four, not unless you’re talking about Relic weaponry or the inhumanly skilled crafting of the Fae. Arrows are good at penetrating armour, a bow has an armour piercing rating equal to the required strength -2. Modern bows use pulleys and advanced materials to augment the strength of the user, these bows still have a Damage rating of one to four but the required strength is one lower, equal to the Damage rating. The armour penetration also increases to the required strength -1. For many archers, shooting is a sport and not a weapon. Bows can be used with both Athletics and Firearms, however the Firearms skill includes more than just pointing a gun. It covers things like lines of fire and battlefield awareness that sports shooting does not. Archers using athletics to fire bows in battle take a -1 penalty. Sidebar: Ironwood Bows The Sons Of Cú Chulainn can become better warriors by swearing an oath upon iron. If that iron is a sword you’ve got no problem, but if the iron is an arrowhead you have one shot before you’ve lost the iron and the power it grants you. The solution is “ironwood bows”. The ancient celts were amazing metalworkers, and the Hounds apply this skill to bows. They cover the bow with delicate iron filigree - so that swearing upon the iron is swearing upon the bow itself. In modern nights the Sons have had little trouble adapting this technique to guns, since a gun doesn't need to bend it’s a much easier task. The trick is to make the work delicate enough that it won’t weigh the gun down and slow the Hound’s reactions while including enough iron to make the gesa take. Since the Hounds started crafting Ironwood guns much later they don’t have much of a stockpile, and the demand is much higher, consequently there is a waiting list. As a rule of thumb, a Son with a Status + Firearms equal to the gun’s size + 4 will quickly be issued his first Ironwood firearm. If the Son isn’t willing to wait, rough and ready modifications that apply a -2 initiative penalty are quick and easy to prepare (Crafts 2 is sufficient) and easily available on the Hound’s supply network. Iron Weaponry As the bane of all fae no hunter should be without a good iron weapon. While iron has been replaced by steel iron weapons were once the unchallengeable lords of war. Armour may have advanced, but flesh hasn’t. Mechanically iron weapons function identically to their modern equivalents but require more maintenance and are harder to work with. Only when against modern armour does iron show it’s age - it’s damage is considered to be two points lower against modern armour (faerie armour or protective magics, on the other hand, might as well be paper). Battle ready iron equipment is generally not on the open market, if a hunter cannot acqure faerie-bane weapons from her Compact or Conspiracy she'll have to get it custom made or make it herself. The following chart lists common weapons by the availability of a good blacksmith and the Crafts needed to forge it, a specialty decreases the Crafts requirement by one dot. Using hand-forged iron (iron which has never been heated by human hands, and deals damage to the True Fae) increases both the Availability and Crafts requirement by one. For convenience the weapon’s combat statistics are repeated: Supernatural Equipment Horseshoes Size 1, Durability 2, Availability N/A (buying them nullifies their supernatural properties) In many cultures a good horse shoe is considered lucky. In some folklore the horseshoe must point up so that the good luck will remain inside while in others it must point down so that the luck will flow out onto the occupants. Some folklore says that the horseshoe must be used, and it must be found rather than purchased. Hanging a horseshoe above a portal bars entry to ethereal beings and if all the portals are protected by horseshoes then ethereal beings cannot pass through the walls either (it’s like a more durable less portable version of salt). For some reason infernal demons are particularly affected, one single horseshoe above a door can protect an entire building. Despite what stories say, the reason is probably far more complex than St. Dunstan hammering a horseshoe onto the devil’s hoof. The fae are not ethereal creatures, but many of them have Bans related to horseshoes. = Endowments = Warrior Code I'm thinking about giving the Sons an additional ability - the ability to see/sense when someone has broken a Geasa (not other vow magic, just Geasa) and tell the difference between breaks that have been atoned for and those which haven't. My thought is that the sons have a strong theme of brotherhood and trust in each other, the ability to see that a fellow Hound hasn't broken their promises of loyalty to the brotherhood will reinforce that. Beautiful Madness I want to rename points of Beauty to points of Inspiration. I used the current name to avoid reusing a word from Genius, now in retrospect this seems pointless. = Faerie Stuff = The Hidden Folk Brainstorming - The Kings Raven: I don't see any need to change much here, but the sidebar which includes a weaker version of the mask for action games should be merged into the main text. Monsters walk among us, blending into humanity like a wolf in sheep’s clothing: To the naked eye a witch appears like you or me, a vampire’s network of minions and slaves can allow it to interact with human society and a werewolf is human whenever it wants to be. The fae also walk among us, but among monsters it is they who have earned their title of the hidden folk, for the fae may be the monsters with the greatest interest in living a normal life, and because the fae protect themselves with the Mask. A protective glamour that disguises the fay as ordinary people. By default the Mask is one of the most potent illusions a hunter is ever likely to encounter. It is a fully comprehensive illusion that covers all five senses and more, the fae’s aura covered by an illusion of humanity, as is their appearances to other mystical perceptions. Yet even the Mask is not perfect; there are three ways to see the truth behind the Mask: The Sight For some lucky, or unlucky, people the Mask may as well not exist. The fae themselves can see each other for what they are, but in the right circumstances so can ordinary humans. A Merit, The Sight, exists for hunters who can see the fae and some Endowments can artificially induce The Sight. Supernatural perception Against all natural and technological senses the Mask is impenetrable but against supernatural senses the Mask is only almost impenetrable. When someone with a Dread Power or a mystical Endowment that grants supernatural senses or penetrates illusions looks upon the fae, the Fae rolls 11 - Wyrd. If the fae succeeds then they appear completely human, no exceptions. If the fae fails their roll then the Endowment or Dread Power works as normal, and the fae cannot Resist or Contest any rolls to determine their supernatural nature. The corner of your eye Ordinary senses cannot hope to defeat the Mask, but sometimes they catch a glimpse of the truth. Such glimpses are always from the corner of your eye, when you’re half asleep, or for some other reason not paying attention. Such glimpses can be next to impossible to tell from your mind playing tricks, at least, impossible to tell with the surety a Hunter should have before they decide if someone not actually human. Experienced hunters are the worst affected; the more you look for monsters hidden in the corner of your eyes, the more you see them even if they’re not actually there. Some hunters wonder if the Mask was intentionally designed to make them start double guessing what should be their most potent tool, their intuition. Given how the fae operate, it’s a possibility. Lifting the Mask Now the Mask as presented here is nigh impenetrable without the Sight, and maybe you like it that way. A game where the only way to notice the fae is if you catch them talking about something only faeries could know presents an interesting and unique set of challenges, but it might not be the game you want to play. Here are some options for weakening the Mask: The Mystical Option Instead of the fae's nearly unbeatable roll to counter mystical sight the fae merely get a +3 bonus. If the Endowment or Dread Power is Resisted or entirely unprotected the fae can contest the roll with Resolve + (7 - Wyrd). This means that the True Fae may have penalties for a Wyrd of eight or more. The Material Option With the right equipment a Hunter can see through the Mask. Perhaps when the ancient fae created the Mask it never occurred to them that technology could ever see auras and so a kirlian camera - perhaps combined with exposing the fae to iron - is surprisingly effective. Perhaps it requires supernatural equipment instead of rare Endowment to grant The Sight. A druid's egg for example. It's not something you can mass produce, but it's still something you could buy on the internet. The Hunter's Sight In this option Hunters can see through the mask, simple as that. Maybe existing on the edge of normality fulfils some ancient bit of small print in the mask, maybe the tenacity needed to fight werewolves protects the hunter's mind against illusion. Either way, there's no mask to get between the Hunters and good fight in the name of humanity. Of course, everyone else is affected by the Mask which can lead to a lot of awkward questions. = Philadelphia = The section summarising each org is missing the Wilde Society, Searchlight and the Lord Stewards. Here's my proposal for those three: The Wilde Society: Scarpered. With the faerie population scattered in 1964 and the constant dangerous fighting between hunters and monsters of all stripes, The Wilde Society have mostly fled Philidelphia entirely. Only a few hold outs remain, mostly clustered around the famous magic garden. Searchlight: Aloof. Searchlight's small presence hold themselves apart from Philidelphia's conflicts. They make their base in uncontested suburban territory and focus their efforts on their own personal quests. However the increasingly violent and unstable behaviour of key Searchlight hunters could attract unwatned attention from both Philidelphia's hunters and monsters. The Office of the Lord Stewards. Absent. Doing their jobs a continent away, the Lord Stewards have no formal presence in Philidelphia and no desire to create one. = Epiloge = Brainstorming - The Kings Raven: I realised that the book just stopped so suddenly with a stat block for Garvin McCallister; so I thought an Epiloge might fit. I had so much fun writing the Stewards opening fiction that I took the excuse to do something else in the same style. As an excuse, given how important Britannia is to the Stewards having her appear once in the text is a good idea. When Sir Terrance Pemberton-Hawtrey, GCB, CVO, GCJD, lay upon his deathbed he gave a most curious final request: To be lain outside in the spring sunlight with a single acorn from an oak tree. In silence Terrance thought back upon his long career in service to Queen and Country, until, on the very edge of death he saw something. A twist of the senses: A small tree caught in the wind made him think of a woman's body. A bird posed just right for a second was her hair. Her face was a cloud in the distance. Most curious of all, she moved towards him at a walking pace. Always just a trick of the light, always clearly a woman tall and regal. Britannia reached out and Terrance took her hand gladly. Together they walked, slowly at first until Terrance's old strength returned. Soon they were moving faster, then faster still. Single steps traversed entire cities and hills. Faster and faster, they walked the entire length of the country until they stopped at the peak of Sgurr Dearg and looked over the United Kingdoms. Terrance saw the ancient forests and the mighty rivers, he saw the sea endlessly battering shining white cliffs, he saw millions of people living their lives. “A life spent protecting it, I had a good innings”. Awkwardly, as though she didn't entirely understand the gesture, Britannia shook his hand and watched as Terrance walked across the sea to parts unknown.